Talks break down: no debate for municipal elections

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — No mayoral candidates will be facing-off this year. Bloomfield voters head to the polls 12 days from now without having the opportunity to have heard the candidates debate the issues that currently confront the town or hear about the visions each candidate has for the future of Bloomfield.

Mayor Michael Venezia, a Democrat, declined Republican candidate Dave Tucker’s challenge to meet with him, one-on-one, before the public in a forum-type setting. Tucker’s challenge did not include the independent, mayoral candidate, Richard Galioto Sr. or any candidate running for council seats. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Tucker had issued the challenge to Venezia at the Oct. 17 township council meeting and later emailed his challenge to the mayor, as Venezia had requested.

According to Tucker, he sent the challenge to Venezia’s township address on Oct. 18. A copy of the email to Venezia was sent to The Independent Press and appeared to have the official township email address correctly. But in an interview, Venezia said he never received it. The mayor was provided a copy of Tucker’s challenge by this newspaper on Oct. 18. That copy did not contain Tucker’s email address.

The mayor responded via Facebook the same day. He declined the offer for a “debate” although Tucker had wanted a “forum” in which residents would pose questions to the candidates.

Venezia’s response voiced concerns that the challenge was being made only three weeks before Election Day with no idea where the debate would take place or what nonpartisan organization would run it.

“This makes it easy to see Tucker’s challenge for what it is,” Venezia wrote, “just a political stunt by a candidate without any actual ideas for Bloomfield’s future.”

The mayor also said he and his slate of candidates were planning on having, before the election, a meet-and-greet with residents.

In an interview, Venezia said because Tucker’s challenge did not include any candidates running for council seats, it just showed that Tucker, if elected, would dictate.

“I don’t dictate to anyone,” Venezia said. “I can’t get anything done without four votes.”

The mayor may also have been of the mind to have his running mates included in any meeting with Tucker. He said, when he and his slate combined their calendars, because of other commitments and family responsibilities, only Oct. 26 and Halloween were open dates for them.

“We’re not going to debate on Halloween,” he said.
But through social media, he said, he has been able to speak with more people than he would at a debate.

He said a number of months ago he thought to have a live debate on Facebook.
“No one was willing to run it,” he said adding that he felt a debate was unnecessary.

But in a telephone interview, Galioto disagreed with Venezia.
“Anytime that you can get the message out to your
community, it’s necessary,” he said.

Galioto was not surprised Tucker did not include him in his challenge.
“Tucker’s afraid to debate me,” he said. “He has nothing to say.”

But Galioto said that in June he challenged both Venezia and Tucker to a debate with him. The challenge came in a letter-to-the-editor in a local newspaper.

“I never heard from either one of them,” he said.
In a telephone interview, Tucker said past debates that were organized by the Bloomfield Neighborhood Association occurred two weeks before the election while his challenge came three weeks before Election Day.

“I thought the League of Women Voters would have called for a debate,” he said, referring to the nonpartisan organization that provides moderators to debate organizers. Tucker offered no comment as to why he excluded Galioto from the challenge.

Recent Bloomfield debates were initially organized by a single neighborhood group, the Watsessing Heights Neighborhood Association, according to Anne Prince, president of that group.

Prince said the debates started around 1997 with her organization taking the responsibility of contacting the League of Women Voters and coordinating the event. After the first few years, she said various Bloomfield neighborhood groups came under one umbrella called the Bloomfield Neighborhood Association. It had a committee made up of presidents from each neighborhood group. But over time, she said, members have gotten involved with other activities or taken up different responsibilities.

“To the best of my knowledge, the BNAC has been on sabbatical,” she said.
Prince said it takes time to put a debate together and locate a moderator from a nonpartisan group, like the League of Women Voters, especially with a highly contested presidential election as we are having this year.

“Everybody’s booked,” she said.